How to use the Cron Job Every 15 Minutes
- Copy
*/15 * * * *and put your command after it in your crontab (open it withcrontab -e). - Check the next run times below, in UTC or your server's time zone.
- Need something slightly different? Edit any field and the description updates as you type.
The crontab line
*/15 * * * * /path/to/your-script.sh >> /var/log/your-script.log 2>&1
The five fields are minute, hour, day of month, month and day of week. Redirecting output to a log file (>> … 2>&1) keeps errors you'd otherwise never see.
Good for
- Importing orders or reports
- Rotating short-lived tokens or certificates
- Updating dashboards and statistics
Variations
*/15 9-17 * * 1-5 | Every 15 minutes, 9:00 AM to 5:45 PM on weekdays |
7-59/15 * * * * | At :07, :22, :37 and :52 (avoids the busy top of the hour) |
0,15,30,45 * * * * | The same as */15, written out |
Same schedule elsewhere
| GitHub Actions | on: schedule: - cron: '*/15 * * * *' (always UTC) |
|---|---|
| Kubernetes | spec.schedule: "*/15 * * * *" in a CronJob |
| Vercel | "crons": [{"path": "/api/job", "schedule": "*/15 * * * *"}] in vercel.json |
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between */15 and 0,15,30,45?
None. Both run at minutes 0, 15, 30 and 45. The step form is just shorter.
What time zone does it use?
The time zone of the machine or service running cron, which is usually UTC on servers and cloud schedulers. GitHub Actions always uses UTC.